29. september, 2005 [...] Dicke Luft in Süd-Korea: Die erste Hausbesetzung in der Geschichte des Landes raubt dem Direktor des staatlichen Kunst-Verbandes den letzten Nerv.
Keine zwölf Stunden dauerte die Aktion, trotzdem war die Hausbesetzung für Süd-Korea eine absolute Premiere, die für viel Wirbel sorgte.... Seit 1943 von Nord-Korea getrennt, versteht sich das Land als Demokratie.... Während ihres Studiums in Frankreich 2001, waren sie von den temporären Autonomen Zonen mitten im Herzen von Paris dermassen fasziniert, dass sie beschlossen bei ihrer Rückkehr in die Heimat selbst ein Gebäude zu besetzen.
...Übers Internet rekrutierten sie Sympathisanten für ihr Projekt, mit denen sie gemeinsam an einem Abriss-Haus in der Vorstadt von Seoul die Hausbesetzung probten. Um drei Uhr morgens stürmten zehn gut ausgerüstete Künstler das leere Gebäude im Süden von Seoul....
Innerhalb kürzester Zeit ist das komplette Gebäude besetzt, unter dem Jubel von Anhängern die sich auf der Strasse versammelt haben.... Nach nur zwei Stunden findet die offizielle Einweihung der freien Kommune «Oasis» statt. [...]

http://www.arte-tv.com/de/kunst-musik/tracks/Diese-Woche/20050203/988892,CmC=989148.html

Artist, 1970 born in Kye-Chang, Korea. Lives and works in New York, U.S.A.

Women inside of me, some experiments on female image and identity

Nikki S. Lee's performance based photo works can be read in a similar context as Cindy Sherman's, Yasumasa Morimura's or Mariko Mori's photos. They put themselves as the main object of their photos, which evoke rather charismatic yet narcissistic features, and at the same time, they come to erase their authentic identities by physical transformations, which strongly suggest a post-modernist cognizance or feedback about the “subject." Compared to the fact that the other artists intentionally emphasize the fictional monumentality by adopting and reconstructing the images of past and future from history, religion and art, Nikki S. Lee chooses to assimilate herself with a certain group of people, through which she accentuates the interaction with "real life" and by doing so deliberately denies monumental features of artwork by adopting a snapshot approach.

As a Korean living and working In the United States, Lee has experienced an empathetic understanding of different cultures, for which she began to survey on cultural differences among different ethnic or age groups as a way of surviving in the United States. According to Lee's survey, particular dress codes and attitudes visually define unique cultural group identity. After a several months period of observations and an assimilating process to a certain group's makeup style, dress code and attitude, she gets cosy with them and transforms her appearance to be taken for a member of the group. A surprisingly flawless physical transformation of the artist in the Project series unveils her personal history of adjusting herself to a foreign culture in a rather inflated manner. Particularly focusing on subcultures such as punk rockers, lesbians, Latinos, and senior citizens, the artist respectfully approached the members of the group. In doing so, she uncovers with a somewhat aloof attitude how subordinated cultures dissimilate themselves from the “mainstream" and how they become marginalized in society,

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recipe [...] Tubu tchigae is a classic, the sort of everyday food that Koreans yearn for when they have been away from home too long. When Halmoni prepared this for Syngman Rhee, the then first President of the Republic of Korea sighed in ectasy and nostalgia... Halmoni's tubu tchigae is exceedingly simple to prepare, but its taste is authentic and truly delicious. [...]

http://www.quaypress.com/korea/tchigae.html

march 1, 1997 [...] While Kim Ha-ki was visiting the People's Republic of China (PRC, China), in July 1996, he inadvertently crossed the border into North Korea. He was detained by the North Korean authorities for two weeks, then sent back to China where he was held for two days. Finally, he was returned to South Korea where he was arrested, charged and convicted under the National Security Law.

Kim Ha-ki is a popular novelist and a deacon in the Presbyterian Church. He was imprisoned as a prisoner of conscience from 1981 to 1988 for his student activities and during this time he became acquainted with several long-term political prisoners in Chunju Prison. After his release, Kim Ha-ki wrote several books about the lives of long-term political prisoners. These books, Complete Encounter and Living Tombs, have been reprinted several times in South Korea and have also been used for theatre production. [...]

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA250181997?open&of=ENG-2S2